Interactive demand management

ABSTRACT

A system and method is disclosed which allows the aggregation of the demands of various buyers, providing an incentive for suppliers to bid to supply those demands in an auction. The system and method operates by scanning a database which contains a listing of goods or services sought by various people or entities. Thereafter, similar goods or services are grouped together and presented to various vendors. The vendors are given the opportunity to bid on the group of similar goods or services. Such a bid may vary from the originally purchased goods or services as long as the bid is within a predetermined range. The vendor which presents the optimum bid within a predetermined period of time is selected as the provider of the goods or services and proceeds to supply the goods or services at the bid upon amount.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of and claims priority to, and thebenefit of, U.S. Ser. No. 09/827,031, filed Apr. 5, 2001 and entitled“INTERACTIVE DEMAND MANAGEMENT”; which itself claims priority to, andclaims the benefit of, U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/194,611,filed Apr. 5, 2000, both of which are hereby incorporated by reference.

FIELD OF INVENTION

The present invention relates to demand aggregation, and moreparticularly, to a method and system for conducting a reverse auctionusing an interactive demand management system.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

In the past, it has been difficult for purchasers to leverage the buyingpower of several unrelated entities in an attempt to get preferred termsfrom suppliers. For example, people who wish to travel are often forcedto purchase airline tickets at a rate determined by the airline, withlittle room to negotiate a better rate. People traveling forrecreational purposes may have more room to negotiate or find a betterdeal because their plans may not be as structured as those of a businesstraveler. But business travelers often have less flexibility as to thetime of a trip, giving suppliers leverage over them and little incentiveto lower prices. Organizations (such as corporations) which spend largeamounts of money on travel have an advantage as they may be able toleverage their high volume and obtain a volume discount. However, suchan option is often not available to smaller organizations. For example,organizations with large travel expenditures, e.g., more than $10million per year, are able to obtain discounts of 15 to 40%, whilesmall-medium enterprises lack the clout to secure such discounts.

Current systems which attempt to optimize travelling costs may utilize atravel manager overseeing one corporation to potentially notice a group(or “lot”) of travelers with similar demand—e.g., each member of the lotmay be preparing to attend the same conference. If the travel manager ismade aware of this fact before reservations are made, the travel managermay be able to contact suppliers to negotiate a group discount. Suchgroup discount negotiations can occur across multiple corporations suchas when a conference/show organizer negotiates show rates at conventionhotels. “Pre-trip” software also exists that is used by travel managersto determine where savings opportunities exist. However, this typicallyinvolves catching somebody traveling “out-of-policy” before the personactually travels. It can also involve organizing a group and then ad-hocnegotiating a special fare/rate or discovering a group of key executiveson the same flight and rebooking some to de-risk the accident exposure.

In industries where buyers are fragmented and suppliers are bothconsolidated and well-invested in yield management systems, auctionsrepresent an opportunity to aggregate demand and create price-makers outof price-takers. In other words, the pricing of goods and services couldbe more influenced by the users rather than solely determined by thesuppliers. With regard to travel in the business context, however, smallto medium size companies have difficulty in aggregating demand forseveral reasons. For example, because of the relatively small number oftravelers from small organizations planning a particular trip, thosebusinesses have less leverage in negotiations than the relatively fewnumber of carriers, which may be unwilling to negotiate contracts acrossunrelated companies.

In certain industries, on web sites such as mercata.com, suppliers bidon contracts to provide goods or services to others. However, due to thelow volume and the lack of aggregation in the travel industry, it hasbeen difficult for the system to adapt to the travel industry and otherindustries. Mercata.com used another model that achieved much initialsuccess. The model contained a “PowerBuy” system in which the unit priceof an item would become lower when more users expressed interest in theitem. This model also relied on pre-negotiated pricing to result inlowered prices for consumers and is thus not a true auction.

Moreover, the field of auctions on the Internet has evolved rapidly inthe past few years. For example, Priceline.com uses a model where usersbid a certain amount for an airline ticket, and various airlines canaccept the bid. While this system appears to be a true auction, ittypically operates through the use of pre-negotiated inventorydiscounts: the system scans a list of pre-negotiated prices anddetermines if the requested price has been matched.

Mobshop.com expanded upon the model of Mercata.com by aggregating acrossmultiple affiliate sites. For example, a typical organization maypurchase many computer monitors in a year, however, the purchasing mayoccur over a variety of different divisions of the organization: whereaseach of 10 sites could include 100 buyers, together they represent asingle “lot” of 1000 buyers.

FreeMarkets utilized an “open cry” reverse auction to drive pricing downamong multiple competing suppliers of a given product or service. Thetypical pre-negotiation present in the FreeMarket system is whether asupplier will participate. In other words, prices bid by suppliers aredetermined in “real-time.” However, FreeMarkets only allows negotiationson price alone; the other terms for the provision of the goods orservices are not negotiable.

However, with the low volume and the lack of aggregation, theabove-described systems are difficult to adapt to the travel industryand other similar industries. Furthermore, the key to forcing suppliersto negotiate with consumers is to have a large number of products orservices available for bidding at one time by suppliers. Such asituation is not sufficiently present in the travel industry, thus,individual travelers may not have the ability to negotiate. Therefore,there is a need for a method and system to aggregate demand in certainfields.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present method scans a database which contains a listing of goods orservices sought by various people or entities. Thereafter, similar goodsand services are grouped together and presented to various vendors. Thevendors are given the opportunity to bid on the entire group of similargoods or services. The vendor bid may vary from the originally purchasedgoods or services as long as the bid is within a predetermined range.The vendor which presents the optimum bid within a predetermined periodof time is selected as the provider of the goods or services andproceeds to supply the goods or services at the bid amount.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention is further described in connection with the accompanyingdrawings, where like reference numbers depict like elements, in which:

FIG. 1 depicts a flowchart illustrating the operation of an embodimentof the present invention; and

FIG. 2 depicts a system in which an embodiment of the present inventionoperates.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

An exemplary embodiment of the present invention includes a system whichcontains a database of travel arrangements. The databases of existingsystems, also known as Computer Reservation Systems (“CRS”) or GlobalDistribution Systems (“GDS”), in which travel arrangements are storedmay be used in this context. For example, companies such as Sabre,Galileo, Amadeus, and Worldspan each run a GDS. Other databases, such asthose used by travel agencies with a World Wide Web presence such asMicrosoft's Expedia site or Sabre's Travelocity site, may also beaccessed by an embodiment of the present invention. All of the foregoingknown systems are hereby incorporated by reference.

The database typically consists of a number of different fields whichare formatted to contain specific information. The rows or recordscontain a memorialization of a reservation, with information in each ofthe fields. For example, a field in the database may be titledDATE_DEPARTURE and may contain information regarding the departure dateof each row in the database. A row in the database would indicate eachof the particulars of a reservation, for example, the name of thetraveler, a contact method, the departure time and place, and thearrival time and place. Each row corresponds to a Passenger Name Record(“PNR”) in the database.

When travel arrangements are made, the system that receives thetraveler's orders may be configured such that the flights are reservedby the system. However, a ticket need not be issued until apredetermined time before the flight activity. In a typical situation, atraveler may make a reservation or travel request for a flight, but nothave the flight “ticketed.” Thus, the airline would have to reserve aseat on the particular flight for the passenger. However, the price forthe seat may be changed and the traveler may also have the ability tocancel or change the reservation, within a particular time period.

Moreover, in an exemplary embodiment, an itinerary in the system may beassociated with a set of rules that should be followed, if the flight isto be changed. For example, a traveler may be associated with a rulethat states that the flight can be rescheduled as long as the arrivaltime is within, e.g., 60 minutes of the booked flight. Additionally, therule may state that the traveler is willing to travel from or to avariety of airports (in a city with multiple airports, such as NewYork). Thereafter, each flight itinerary of that traveler may beassociated with the traveler's rules. In the alternative, each travelermay be associated with a rule set by their employer. Another alternativeallows each itinerary to have a set of rules that is set at the timethat arrangements are established. Several of the above examples may becombined with each other. For example, a traveler may have a personalset of rules as well as rules set by his employer. In anotherembodiment, a traveler may have a general set of rules, but may be ableto augment or change those rules at the time of placing each specificflight.

One method of associating rules with a traveler is to use an extensionof the typical “member profile.” A traveler typically completes a memberprofile in which he indicates his preference for, e.g., a window seat oran aisle seat. Such a profile may be extended to include information asto the traveler's rules. In addition, an organization may have anorganization profile which indicates, e.g., a policy which does notallow First Class travel. The organization profile may be extended tocontain rules which are associated with the organization as a whole.Rules will be discussed more fully infra.

With reference to FIG. 1, an exemplary flowchart illustrating anoverview of the operation of a system of the present invention ispresented. In general, the system scans a database which contains aplurality of travel itineraries (step 102). In scanning the database,the system determines itineraries which can be grouped together (step104). In forming the group, the system also takes into consideration therules established either by the traveler or by his employer. Once agroup of similar itineraries has been formed, the group of itinerariescan be presented to various suppliers (step 106). If a supplier wishesto book the group, the supplier may place a bid on a particular group(step 108). The system then determines which bid is the optimumacceptable bid (step 110). To be an acceptable bid, the bid should meetthe criteria set forth in the rules associated with the itineraries. Forexample, if the rule states that the itinerary should not be changed ifthe resulting itinerary results in an arrival time that is more than anhour later than the booked flight, than any bid which results in anarrival time greater than an hour is not acceptable. The optimumacceptable bid is then selected and each itinerary in the selected groupwill be booked by the supplier which won the bid (step 112).

With reference to FIG. 2, a diagram depicting an exemplary system of thepresent invention is shown. Elements 204, 206, 208, 210, 212, and 214represent consumers seeking to travel. It should be understood that thenumber of consumers is not limited to the number shown in FIG. 2, asthousands or more consumes may be linked to a system of the presentinvention. It should also be understood that the consumers may or maynot be part of a larger organization. The reservations made by theconsumers are stored in various Global Distribution Systems 220, 222,and 224. The reservations may be made through the use of anintermediary, such as a travel agent. Again, it should be understoodthat the number of Global Distribution Systems is not limited to thatshown in FIG. 2. A system 202 is coupled to the various GlobalDistribution Systems 220, 222, and 224. System 202 is a computer systemwith the capability to access various database systems such as GlobalDistribution Systems 220, 222, and 224. System 202 also has thecapability to process data and organize the data into theabove-described groups. System 202 is coupled to various providers, suchas airlines 230, 232, 234, and 236. System 202 is configured to providedata to airlines 230, 232, 234, and 236 in a format readable to them.

The operation of an exemplary embodiment of the present invention willnow be examined in further detail. A system 202 containing an embodimentof the present invention is configured to interact with travelreservation databases that contain travel itineraries that are booked,but not yet ticketed. In an exemplary embodiment, one or more than onetravel reservation database may be scanned. For example, a GDS databasemay be examined in addition to the database of an online travel agent.

In an exemplary embodiment, system 202 scans the databases and fields tofind similar itineraries. There may be a variety of different criteriaused to determine if itineraries are similar, such as, for example, ifthey are identical, i.e., the itineraries have the same date and timewith the same arrival and departure locations. In the alternative,itineraries may be similar even if they have different arrival anddeparture times that are within a predetermined time frame. For example,itineraries with arrival or departure times within a given time period(e.g., departures between noon and 1 p.m.) may be considered similar. Ifthe associated rules allow a change in arrival or departure airport,itineraries can be considered similar as long as the airports are withina predetermined proximity with each other. For example, a departure fromNew York's La Guardia Airport may be considered similar to a departurefrom New York's JFK International Airport, if both departures allow thechanging of airports. Similar itineraries also typically have a set ofrules that are nearly identical for each itinerary in the group. Forexample, an itinerary that is associated with a rule stating thatairport changes are not allowable may not be grouped with itinerariesthat do allow changes to the airport.

In a further embodiment of the present invention, itineraries may bepart of several different groups. For example, if a particular itineraryhas a departure time of 12:00 noon, but its associated rule states thatthe traveler is flexible with respect to departure time and is willingto travel anytime within a 2 hour window before and after the scheduledtime, the itinerary may be placed in groups with flights at 10:00 am,11:00 am, 12:00 noon, 1:00 pm, and 2:00 pm.

Once similar itineraries are grouped by system 202 containing anembodiment of the present invention, the groups along with a descriptionof the criteria of the groups are made available for bidding by variousairlines. The airlines are given a predetermined amount of time to makea bid on each of the available groups. The predetermined amount of timemay be different for different groups. For example, one possible rule isthat the traveler may wish to be notified, e.g., 3 days before thedeparture of any change in the flight plan. However, another travelermay only desire 24 hour notification of any change. The airlinepreferably provides bids in sufficient time to notify the travelers.

The actual placing and accepting of bids may be performed in a varietyof different methods known in the art. For example, an Internetinterface may be used to both display the groups and to accept bids onthe group. In the alternative, bids may be accepted, inter alia, bytelephone or by mail. Other examples of bidding systems are found inU.S. Pat. No. 4,799,156 “Interactive Market Management System” owned byStrategic Processing Corporation and U.S. Pat. No. 5,797,127 “Method,Apparatus, And Program For Pricing, Selling, And Exercising Options ToPurchase Airline Tickets” owned by Walker Asset Management, the entirecontents of which are hereby incorporated by reference. The bidding maybe blind in that one airline does not know whether other airlines aremaking bids and what the other airlines are charging. In thealternative, the bidding may be open such that the airlines know whatthe top bid is, although the identity of each particular bidder mayremain unknown to the participating airlines. In the alternative, a“preferred” provider may, for valuable consideration, be given theopportunity to view the bids of its competitors in order to give theprovider an advantage in making its bid.

Once the predetermined time period has expired, a system of the presentinvention will examine the submitted bids to determine the optimum bid.There may be a variety of standards used to determine an optimum bid,such as, for example, whether the bid conforms to the rules set forthfor the group of itineraries. Moreover, for example, if each of thegroup of itineraries are associated with a rule stating that the flightmust arrive by 7 PM, a bid of a flight which arrives past 7 PM may notbe acceptable.

In the alternative, a determination of the acceptability of a bid mayalso occur at the time the bid is entered. In this manner, an airline isgiven immediate notification when a non-acceptable bid is entered suchthat the airline is able to submit an acceptable bid. For example, ifthe above-described Internet interface is used, an airline may receiveimmediate notification when a submitted bid is not acceptable throughcommon database and display techniques. In addition to determiningwhether bids are acceptable, a system of an exemplary embodiment of thepresent invention will determine which bid is optimum. This may beaccomplished via a variety of different methods. For example, theoptimum bid could be selected by determining which bid presents thegreatest savings to the consumers. In the alternative, the optimum bidcould be selected in a variety of different methods. For example, anairline may be a “preferred” provider, as described above. In such asituation, a bid from the preferred provider may be selected even if itis not the lowest bid, as long as various criteria are met (e.g., theprice is within 5 or 10% of the lowest bid).

In the alternative, the system of rules may be configured such that costis not the primary factor. For example, if a traveler set up areservation at 12:00 noon, he may state that he would change to 11:00 ifthe savings were 20%, but would only switch to 10:00 if the savings were35%. Therefore, a bid with a 30% savings for a 10:00 departure may loseto a bid with only a 20% savings but an 11:00 departure even though the10:00 departure actually results in a greater savings.

After the winning bid has been determined, the travelers are notified asto the change in their plans, so that they can proceed to the correctairport and gate. Such a notification may occur in many ways. Forautomation purposes, the fastest method may involve sending an e-mailmessage, phone call, voice mail, fax or page to the affected traveler.In the alternative, a live person may make the calls or faxes andverbally inform the traveler as to the change.

An exemplary situation illustrating the operation of an exemplaryembodiment of the present invention is as follows. The booked, butunticketed flights for a particular time period are accessed by a systemof the current invention. It is determined that there are 10 travelersbooked to leave New York's La Guardia Airport to Chicago's O'HareAirport between 8 am and 9 am, non-stop that have a similar set ofassociated rules. The average ticket price for this segment is $600.Each of the 10 travelers have a similar set of rules, e.g., the rulesmay state that, in order to change flights, savings must be more than$99; increased travel time must be less than 30 minutes; the arrivaltime must be within 30 minutes of the original, booked arrival time; andthe use of alternate airports is approved. The flights are booked onthree different carriers: four itineraries are booked on X, two arebooked on Y, and three are booked on Z. Each of the three carriers areinformed of the situation and the carriers are given the opportunitymake a determination of whether or not they wish to make an bid for thegroup of itineraries. For example, carrier X may offer $90 off for eachmember of the group; carrier Y may offer $200 off for each member, butwith a flight out of the Newark airport; and carrier Z may offer $130off for each member. The system determines that the offer of carrier Xis not acceptable because it does not offer enough savings and alsodetermines that the offer of carrier Y offers the most savings to thetravelers. The above-described process may be transparent to thetravelers: the travelers will merely be notified that an itinerarysimilar to their booked itinerary, but within their preset rules, hasbeen booked. The carriers are each informed of the available travelersand, in effect, bid for the business of the travelers.

There are several advantages of the present invention over the priorart. For example, the system of the present invention is substantiallynon-invasive and interaction with the traveler is minimized. In otherwords, travelers simply book travel through known procedures and thepresent system operates in the background and conducts an auction on thetravelers' behalf. Another advantage is that the travelers in a groupneed not be in the same organization. In the past, a travel coordinatorfor an organization may wish to book, for example, ten travelerstogether in order to obtain a group discount. A similar effect happensin the previously described case. However, in the present case, thetravelers need not be aware of each other, as the similar flights werechosen and bid upon without necessarily the intervention by thetravelers. Thus, companies which previously did not have the volume toobtain a discount are able to do so with a system of the presentinvention. Other advantages include the following: 1) the corporationsdo not need to know with whom they are “partnering” as the systembrokers the auction population; 2) deals are being negotiated off ofactual demand—units of actual individual reservations as opposed toforecasted annual demand; 3) buyers do not need to change their patternof behavior until after a deal has been negotiated; and 4) pricing isdynamic (being determined on an ongoing basis in real-time).

No element described in this specification is necessary for the practiceof the invention unless expressly described herein as “essential” or“required.” The above description presents exemplary modes contemplatedin carrying out the invention. The techniques described above are,however, susceptible to modifications and alternate constructions fromthe embodiments shown above. Consequently, it is not the intention tolimit the invention to the particular embodiments disclosed. On thecontrary, the invention is intended to cover all modifications andalternate constructions falling within the scope of the invention, asexpressed in the following claims when read in light of the descriptionand drawings.

For example, while the specification discussed airline reservations indetail, the present invention can be adapted to operate on a variety ofgoods and services. For example, a traveler will typically make hoteland car rental reservations at the same time as airline reservations. Itis thus possible to extend the present invention to encompass both thehotel and car rental contexts. In addition, the present invention may beextended to almost any type of goods or services. The present inventionis especially useful in a situation in which a consumer indicates hisdesire to purchase a certain product or service and has flexibility asto the exact product or service being purchased. For example, a consumermay indicate his desire for a CD player in a certain price range, but beflexible as to the brand or certain features of the player (e.g.,single-disc or changer). A merchant may wish to capture this consumer'sdesire for a CD player and submit the bid to several organizations whichmay wish to bid upon the provision of the CD player.

Moreover, the present invention may be described herein in terms offunctional block components, screen shots, optional selections andvarious processing steps. It should be appreciated that such functionalblocks may be realized by any number of hardware and/or softwarecomponents configured to perform the specified functions. For example,the present invention may employ various integrated circuit components,e.g., memory elements, processing elements, logic elements, look-uptables, and the like, which may carry out a variety of functions underthe control of one or more microprocessors or other control devices.Similarly, the software elements of the present invention may beimplemented with any programming or scripting language such as C, C++,Java, COBOL, assembler, PERL, or the like, with the various algorithmsbeing implemented with any combination of data structures, objects,processes, routines or other programming elements. Further, it should benoted that the present invention may employ any number of conventionaltechniques for data transmission, signaling, data processing, networkcontrol, and the like. For a basic introduction of cryptography, pleasereview a text written by Bruce Schneider which is entitled “AppliedCryptography: Protocols, Algorithms, And Source Code In C,” published byJohn Wiley & Sons (second edition, 1996), which is hereby incorporatedby reference.

It should be appreciated that the particular implementations shown anddescribed herein are illustrative of the invention and its best mode andare not intended to otherwise limit the scope of the present inventionin any way. Indeed, for the sake of brevity, conventional datanetworking, application development and other functional aspects of thesystems (and components of the individual operating components of thesystems) may not be described in detail herein. Furthermore, theconnecting lines shown in the various figures contained herein areintended to represent exemplary functional relationships and/or physicalcouplings between the various elements. It should be noted that manyalternative or additional functional relationships or physicalconnections may be present in a practical electronic transaction system.

It will be appreciated, that many applications of the present inventioncould be formulated. One skilled in the art will appreciate that thenetwork may include any system for exchanging data or transactingbusiness, such as the Internet, an intranet, an extranet, WAN, LAN,satellite communications, and/or the like. The users may interact withthe system via any input device such as a keyboard, mouse, kiosk,personal digital assistant, handheld computer (e.g., Palm Pilots),cellular phone and/or the like. Similarly, the invention could be usedin conjunction with any type of personal computer, network computer,workstation, minicomputer, mainframe, or the like running any operatingsystem such as any version of Windows, Windows NT, Windows2000, Windows98, Windows 95, MacOS, OS/2, BeOS, Linux, UNIX, or the like. Moreover,although the invention is frequently described herein as beingimplemented with TCP/IP communications protocols, it will be readilyunderstood that the invention could also be implemented using IPX,Appletalk, IP-6, NetBIOS, OSI or any number of existing or futureprotocols. Moreover, the system contemplates the use, sale ordistribution of any goods, services or information over any networkhaving similar functionality described herein.

As will be appreciated by one of ordinary skill in the art, the presentinvention may be embodied as a method, a data processing system, adevice for data processing, and/or a computer program product.Accordingly, the present invention may take the form of an entirelysoftware embodiment, an entirely hardware embodiment, or an embodimentcombining aspects of both software and hardware. Furthermore, thepresent invention may take the form of a computer program product on acomputer-readable storage medium having computer-readable program codemeans embodied in the storage medium. Any suitable computer-readablestorage medium may be utilized, including hard disks, CD-ROM, opticalstorage devices, magnetic storage devices, and/or the like.

Communication between the parties to the transaction and the system ofthe present invention is accomplished through any suitable communicationmeans, such as, for example, a telephone network, Intranet, Internet,point of interaction device (point of sale device, personal digitalassistant, cellular phone, kiosk, etc.), online communications, off-linecommunications, wireless communications, and/or the like. One skilled inthe art will also appreciate that, for security reasons, any databases,systems, or components of the present invention may consist of anycombination of databases or components at a single location or atmultiple locations, wherein each database or system includes any ofvarious suitable security features, such as firewalls, access codes,encryption, de-encryption, compression, decompression, and/or the like.

The present invention is described herein with reference to blockdiagrams and flowchart illustrations of methods, apparatus (e.g.,systems), and computer program products according to various aspects ofthe invention. It will be understood that each functional block of theblock diagrams and the flowchart illustrations, and combinations offunctional blocks in the block diagrams and flowchart illustrations,respectively, can be implemented by computer program instructions. Thesecomputer program instructions may be loaded onto a general purposecomputer, special purpose computer, or other programmable dataprocessing apparatus to produce a machine, such that the instructionswhich execute on the computer or other programmable data processingapparatus create means for implementing the functions specified in theflowchart block or blocks.

These computer program instructions may also be stored in acomputer-readable memory that can direct a computer or otherprogrammable data processing apparatus to function in a particularmanner, such that the instructions stored in the computer-readablememory produce an article of manufacture including instruction meanswhich implement the function specified in the flowchart block or blocks.The computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer orother programmable data processing apparatus to cause a series ofoperational steps to be performed on the computer or other programmableapparatus to produce a computer-implemented process such that theinstructions which execute on the computer or other programmableapparatus provide steps for implementing the functions specified in theflowchart block or blocks.

Accordingly, functional blocks of the block diagrams and flowchartillustrations support combinations of means for performing the specifiedfunctions, combinations of steps for performing the specified functions,and program instruction means for performing the specified functions. Itwill also be understood that each functional block of the block diagramsand flowchart illustrations, and combinations of functional blocks inthe block diagrams and flowchart illustrations, can be implemented byeither special purpose hardware-based computer systems which perform thespecified functions or steps, or suitable combinations of specialpurpose hardware and computer instructions.

The computing units may be connected with each other via a datacommunication network. The network may be a public network and assumedto be insecure and open to eavesdroppers. In the illustratedimplementation, the network may be embodied as the internet. In thiscontext, the computers may or may not be connected to the internet atall times. For instance, the customer computer may employ a modem tooccasionally connect to the internet, whereas the bank computing centermight maintain a permanent connection to the internet. It is noted thatthe network may be implemented as other types of networks, such as aninteractive television (ITV) network.

1. A computer-implemented method for facilitating an auction of a travelservice comprising: accepting a bid from a vendor to provide said travelservice to a first consumer and a second consumer based on an ability ofsaid vendor to provide said travel service within a predefined thresholddefined within first consumer rules, first organization rules, secondconsumer rules, and second organization rules; wherein said firstconsumer and said second consumer are associated with a subset ofconsumer itineraries; wherein said first consumer rules relate to atleast one of: first consumer departure time, first consumer arrivaltime, first consumer airport pair, first consumer class, and firstconsumer seating; wherein said first organization rules relate to atleast one of: first organization departure time, first organizationarrival time, first organization airport pair, first organization class,and first organization seating; wherein said second consumer rulesrelate to at least one of: second consumer departure time, secondconsumer arrival time, second consumer airport pair, second consumerclass, and second consumer seating; wherein said second organizationrules relate to at least one of: second organization departure time,second organization arrival time, second organization airport pair,second organization class, and second organization seating; and,verifying that said bid is in accordance with said predefined thresholddefined within said first consumer rules, said first organization rules,said second consumer rules, and said second organization rules.
 2. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising: confirming that said bid is anoptimum bid; and, modifying a second subset of said subset of consumeritineraries to include said travel arrangements with a second differentvendor according to said bid, wherein said second subset of consumeritineraries does not include said second different vendor.
 3. The methodof claim 2, wherein said second different vendor more closely matches atleast one of: said first consumer rules, said second consumer rules,said first organization rules, and said second organization rules. 4.The method of claim 2, wherein said second subset of said plurality ofitineraries of said subset of consumer itineraries is not modified whensaid second different vendor does not provide said optimum bid.
 5. Themethod of claim 2, further comprising notifying at least one of: saidfirst consumer and said second consumer of said optimum bid.
 6. Themethod of claim 2, wherein said confirming step comprises determiningwhen said bid provides optimum savings for at least one of: said firstconsumer and said second consumer.
 7. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising: compiling a first user profile based on said first consumerrules defined by a first consumer; compiling a first organizationprofile based on said first organization rules defined by a firstorganization; compiling a second user profile based on said secondconsumer rules defined by a second consumer; and compiling a secondorganization profile based on said second organization rules defined bya second organization.
 8. The method of claim 7, further comprising:establishing a network connection with a plurality of CustomerReservations Systems, wherein one of said plurality of CustomerReservations Systems was used to book travel reservations to create oneof a plurality of consumer itineraries; analyzing said plurality ofconsumer itineraries stored at said plurality of Customer ReservationsSystems to identify similar itineraries, wherein said similaritineraries include a similar departure time, similar arrival time,similar airport pair, similar class, and similar seating, and whereinsaid similar itineraries comprise reserved travel arrangements with afirst vendor; retrieving said first user profile and said firstorganization profile corresponding to a first itinerary, wherein saidfirst itinerary is one of said similar itineraries; retrieving saidfirst user profile and said first organization profile corresponding toa second itinerary, wherein said second itinerary is one of said similaritineraries; comparing said first consumer rules and said firstorganization rules relating to said first itinerary to said secondconsumer rules and said second organization rules relating to saidsecond itinerary to determine when said first itinerary and said seconditinerary match within a predefined threshold defined within said firstconsumer rules, said first organization rules, said second consumerrules, and said second organization rules; grouping said first itineraryand said second itinerary to create a subset of consumer itineraries;retrieving said subset of said consumer itineraries; and providing saidsubset of consumer itineraries to a vendor offering a travel service. 9.The method of claim 8, wherein said reserved travel arrangementscomprise at least one of contractually obligated and booked travelreservations.
 10. The method of claim 8, wherein said retrieving stepcomprises scanning said travel reservations database to determine rowsof said consumer information with a similar at least one of said firstconsumer rules, second consumer rules, said first organization rules,and said second organization rules, placing said rows of a similar atleast one of said first consumer rules, second consumer rules, saidfirst organization rules, and said second organization rules into saidsubset of said consumer itineraries, wherein said travel reservationsdatabase comprises a plurality of rows.
 11. The method of claim 10,wherein an individual row of said rows is placed into a plurality ofsaid subset of said consumer itineraries.
 12. The method of claim 10,wherein said rows are similar when at least one of said first consumerrules, said second consumer rules, said first organization rules, andsaid second organization rules differ by less than a predeterminedcriteria.
 13. The method of claim 1, wherein said verifying stepcomprises evaluating said bid based on a proposed price and a proposedprovision of said travel service.
 14. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising storing a deviation to said first consumer rules and saidsecond consumer rules.
 15. The method of claim 1, further comprisingstoring a restriction upon a deviation from at least one of: said firstconsumer rules, said second consumer rules, said first organizationrules, and said second organization rules.
 16. The method of claim 1,wherein said travel service comprises at least one of an airlinereservation, automobile rental reservation, and hotel reservation. 17.The method of claim 1, wherein said first consumer rules and said secondconsumer rules include at least two of price, scheduling preferences,departure airport, destination airport, departure date, departure time,arrival data, arrival time, seating preferences, and specialaccommodations.
 18. The method of claim 1, wherein said firstorganization rules and said second organization rules includerestrictions relating to at least two of price, scheduling preferences,departure airport, destination airport, departure date, departure time,arrival data, arrival time, seating preferences, and specialaccommodations.
 19. A computer-readable having stored thereon aplurality of instructions, said plurality of instructions comprising:instructions to accept a bid from a vendor to provide a travel serviceto a first consumer and a second consumer based on an ability of saidvendor to provide said travel service within a predefined thresholddefined within first consumer rules, first organization rules, secondconsumer rules, and second organization rules; wherein said firstconsumer and said second consumer are associated with a subset ofconsumer itineraries; wherein said first consumer rules relate to atleast one of: first consumer departure time, first consumer arrivaltime, first consumer airport pair, first consumer class, and firstconsumer seating; wherein said first organization rules relate to atleast one of: first organization departure time, first organizationarrival time, first organization airport pair, first organization class,and first organization seating; wherein said second consumer rulesrelate to at least one of: second consumer departure time, secondconsumer arrival time, second consumer airport pair, second consumerclass, and second consumer seating; wherein said second organizationrules relate to at least one of: second organization departure time,second organization arrival time, second organization airport pair,second organization class, and second organization seating; and,instructions to verify that said bid is in accordance with saidpredefined threshold defined within said first consumer rules, saidfirst organization rules, said second consumer rules, and said secondorganization rules.
 20. A computer-implemented method for providing abid to an auction of a travel service comprising: submitting a bid toprovide said travel service to a first consumer and a second consumerbased on an ability to provide said travel service within a predefinedthreshold defined within first consumer rules, first organization rules,second consumer rules, and second organization rules; wherein said firstconsumer and said second consumer are associated with a subset ofconsumer itineraries; wherein said first consumer rules relate to atleast one of: first consumer departure time, first consumer arrivaltime, first consumer airport pair, first consumer class, and firstconsumer seating; wherein said first organization rules relate to atleast one of: first organization departure time, first organizationarrival time, first organization airport pair, first organization class,and first organization seating; wherein said second consumer rulesrelate to at least one of: second consumer departure time, secondconsumer arrival time, second consumer airport pair, second consumerclass, and second consumer seating; wherein said second organizationrules relate to at least one of: second organization departure time,second organization arrival time, second organization airport pair,second organization class, and second organization seating; and,receiving verification that said bid is in accordance with saidpredefined threshold defined within said first consumer rules, saidfirst organization rules, said second consumer rules, and said secondorganization rules.